Rory McIlroy is planning on using the Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus Augusta template in a bid to join golf’s true greats club this week.
The pair, who have won the Masters 11 times between them, are among the list of five golfers to have completed the career Grand Slam.
And McIlroy has decided to copy their safety-first approach to Augusta as he tries again to complete the missing piece of his Major jigsaw.
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“The one thing Tiger did really well at Augusta is discipline,” said McIlroy.
“The course can really goad you into taking shots that you don’t need to take on and if you look at the two most successful players at Augusta, it’s Tiger and Jack. They are the two most disciplined players in the history of our game.
“Not taking on too much risk. Not getting ahead of yourself. That’s the formula to do well at the Masters.”
This will be the 33-year-old’s 15th Masters and so far it has been a tale of what might have been since blowing a four-shot lead in the final round in 2011.
However, his Sunday charge last year, which culminated in a spectacular bunker hole-out to deliver a runner-up finish behind Scottie Scheffler, sends him into this season’s first Major in optimistic mood.
“I felt like I broke a barrier for myself whether that was a perceived barrier or a mental one but I left Augusta really happy with myself and my performance for the first time in a long time,” he said.
McIlroy, who won the Dubai Desert Classic in January, beat World No 1 Scheffler to take third place in the WGC Match Play in Austin last time out.
His relationship with the great Woods has blossomed in recent years, with the pair even becoming business partners in their new virtual golf venture TMRW Sports.
Not many know the fairways of Augusta National like Woods, and McIlroy has seemingly used their friendship to his advantage in the run-up to tournament week, after revealing: "I talk to him every day. That's the thing to me that is great.
"I can remember the first time I met him and how I felt and to forge that relationship with him and for him to really take an interest in what I do and take an interest in my game, take an interest in my family. I'm unbelievably grateful for his friendship and his guidance but also his leadership through everything that's happened in the past 18 months as well."
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